Method of providing a decorative covering

ABSTRACT

A decorative assembly for a floral grouping comprising a floral holding material and a sheet of material. The floral holding material is constructed of a material capable of receiving a portion of a floral grouping and supporting the floral grouping. The sheet of material is extended about a portion of the floral holding material and a crimped portion is formed in the sheet of material with the crimped portion cooperating to hold the sheet of material about the floral holding material to provide a decorative covering.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 10/328,089, filedDec. 20, 2002; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 10/040,669,filed Jan. 7, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,304, issued Feb. 4, 2003;which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 09/901,997, filed Jul. 10,2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,488; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser.No. 09/603,712, filed Jun. 27, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,611, issuedAug. 7, 2001; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 09/243,961, filedFeb. 3, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,789, issued Aug. 15, 2000; whichis a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 08/813,850, filed Mar. 7, 1997, nowU.S. Pat. No. 5,890,343, issued Apr. 6, 1999; which is a continuation ofU.S. Ser. No. 08/463,641, filed Jun. 5, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No.5,615,532, issued Apr. 1, 1997; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No.08/427,014, filed Apr. 24, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,059, issuedMar. 26, 1996; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/941,992,filed Sep. 8, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,856, issued May 2, 1995which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 07/893,586, filed Jun.2, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,364, issued Jan. 26, 1993.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to decorative assemblies forfloral groupings and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation,to a decorative assembly for a floral grouping comprising a sheet ofmaterial disposed about a floral holding material with a crimped portionformed in the sheet of material for cooperating to hold the sheet ofmaterial in position about the floral holding material to provide adecorative covering.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sheet of material constructed in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the sheet of material extendedabout a portion of a floral holding material with a crimped portionbeing formed in the sheet of material for cooperating to hold the sheetof material in the position extended about the floral grouping toprovide a decorative covering in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a modified floral holding materialshowing the sheet of material of FIG. 1 wrapped about the modifiedfloral holding material to provide a decorative covering.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of yet another modified floral holdingmaterial.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the modified floral holding materialof FIG. 4 showing the sheet of material disposed about a portion of themodified floral holding material with the crimped portion being formedand a portion of the sheet of material.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a modified sheet of material.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a floral holding material with thesheet of material of FIG. 6 disposed about a portion of the floralholding material and a modified crimped portion being formed in aportion of the sheet of material.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of still another modified sheet of material.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a floral holding material showingthe sheet of material of FIG. 8 disposed about a portion of the floralholding material with the crimped portion being formed in the sheet ofmaterial in a manner like that shown in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Shown in FIG. 1 and designated by the general reference numeral 10 is asheet of material constructed in accordance with the present invention.The sheet of material 10 has an upper surface 12, a lower surface 14(not shown) and an outer peripheral edge 16.

The sheet of material 10 is constructed from any suitable flexiblematerial that is capable of being wrapped or extended about a floralholding material 18 (FIG. 2) in the manner described below. Preferably,the sheet of material 10 is constructed of a material selected from agroup of materials consisting of paper, metal foil, cloth (natural orsynthetic or combinations thereof), denim, burlap, polymer film or clingmaterial or combinations thereof.

The term “polymer film” as used herein means any polymer film. Forexample, but not by way of limitation, one polymer film is apolypropylene film. Another example of a polymer film, but not by way oflimitation, is cellophane.

The sheet of material 10 has a thickness in a range from about 0.1 milto about 30 mil. Preferably, the sheet of material 10 has a thickness ina range from about 0.1 mil to about 5 mil.

The sheet of material 10 may be any shape and a circular shape is shownin FIG. 1 only by way of example. The sheet of material 10 for exampleonly may be square or rectangular or any other geometric shape such asheart shaped for example only.

The sheet of material 10 may be constructed of a single layer ofmaterial or a plurality of layers of the same or different types ofmaterials. Any thickness of the sheet of material 10 may be utilized inaccordance with the present invention as long as the sheet of material10 is wrappable about the floral holding material 18, as describedherein. Additionally, an insulating material such as bubble film,preferable as one of two or more layers, can be utilized in order toprovide additional protection for the item wrapped therein. The layersof material comprising the sheet of material 10 may be connectedtogether or laminated or may be separate layers.

A decorative pattern, such as a color and/or an embossed pattern, and/orother decorative surface ornamentation may be applied to the uppersurface 12 and/or the lower surface 14 of the sheet of material 10 orportions thereof including, but not limited to printed design, coatings,colors, flocking or metallic finishes. The sheet of material 10 also maybe totally or partially clear or tinted transparent material.

“Cling Wrap or Material” as used herein means any material which iscapable of connecting to the sheet of material and/or itself uponcontacting engagement during the wrapping process and is wrappable aboutan item whereby portions of the cling material contactingly engage andconnect to other portions of the wrapping material for generallysecuring the sheet of material wrapped about at least a portion of theitem. This connecting engagement is preferably temporary in that thewrapping material may be easily removed without tearing same, i.e., thecling material “clings” to the wrapping material. A wrapping materialwhich remains securely connected to and about the wrapped item until thewrapping material is torn therefrom.

The cling material is constructed and treated if necessary, frompolyethylene such as Cling Wrap made by Glad®, First Brands Corporation,Danbury, Conn. The thickness of the cling material will, in part, dependupon the thickness of the sheet of material utilized, i.e., generally,the thicker and therefore heavier sheet of material may require athicker and therefore stronger cling material. The cling material willrange in thickness from less than about 0.2 mil to about 10 mil, andpreferably less than about 0.5 mil to about 2.5 mil and most preferablyfrom less than about 0.6 mil to about 2 mil. However, any thickness ofcling material may be utilized in accordance with the present inventionwhich permits the cling material to function as described herein.

As shown in FIG. 2, the floral holding material 18 has an upper end 20,a lower end 22 and an outer peripheral surface 24. The floral holdingmaterial 18 shown in FIG. 2 is spherically shaped, although the floralholding material 18 may be any shape desired in any particularapplication. The floral holding material 18 is constructed of a materialcapable of receiving a portion of a floral grouping 26 and holding orsupporting the floral grouping 26 without any pot such as a separateflower pot for example.

The floral holding material 18 may be the type of material commonlyreferred to in the art as floral foam or Oasis™ or may be soil orartificial soil or other earth composition so long as the material iscapable of holding its predetermined shape and capable of receiving andsupporting the floral grouping 26 without any additional pot. The floralholding material 18 may be capable of receiving and holding water forsupplying water to the floral grouping 26.

As shown in FIG. 2, the floral grouping 26 has a stem end 28 and a bloomend 30. A portion of the stem end 28 of the floral grouping 26 isextended into the floral holding material 18. The bloom end 30 of thefloral grouping 26 extends a distance above the floral holding material18.

“Floral grouping” as used herein means cut fresh flowers, artificialflowers, a single flower, other fresh and/or artificial plants or otherfloral materials and may include other secondary plants and/orornamentation which add to the aesthetics of the overall floralgrouping.

As mentioned before, the floral holding material 18, as shown in FIG. 2,is generally spherically shaped. A flat portion (not shown) may beformed on the lower end 22 of the floral holding material 18 so that thefloral holding material 18 may be supported more easily on a flatsurface such as on a table (not shown) for example.

The sheet of material 10 is disposed adjacent the floral holdingmaterial 18 with the upper surface 12 of the sheet of material 10 beingdisposed adjacent the outer peripheral surface 24 of the floral holdingmaterial 18. In this position, as shown in FIG. 2, the sheet of material10 is extended about and covers a substantial portion of the floralholding material 18 leaving the upper end 20 of the floral holdingmaterial 18 substantially uncovered so that the floral grouping 26extends outwardly from the upper end 20 of the floral holding material18.

In this position, a crimped portion 32 is formed in the sheet ofmaterial 10 near the upper end 20 of the floral holding material 18. Thecrimped portion 32 is formed by crimping together portions of the sheetof material 10 to form the crimped portion 32. The crimped portion 32extends a distance inwardly toward a central portion of the floralholding material 18. The crimped portion 32 preferably extendscircumferentially about the upper end 20 of the floral holding material18, although the crimped portion 32 could be formed only in portions ofthe sheet of material 10 thereby forming circumferentially spaced apartcrimped portions if desired in a particular application.

As shown in FIG. 2, the crimped portion 32 is formed by placing a band34 about a portion of the sheet of material 10 with the band 34gathering or bringing together portions of the sheet of material 10pulling portions of the sheet of material 10 toward a central portion ofthe upper end 20 of the floral holding material 18 to form the crimpedportion 32 securing the sheet of material 10 in a position about thefloral holding material 18 to provide a decorative covering 38.

The term “band” as used herein means any material which may be securedabout an object such as a flower pot, such bands commonly being referredto as elastic bands or rubber bands and also includes any other type ofmaterial such as a string or elastic piece of material, non-elasticpiece of material, a round piece of material, a flat piece of material,a ribbon, a piece of paper strip, a piece of plastic strip, a piece ofwire, a tie wrap or a twist tie or combinations thereof or any otherdevice capable of gathering the sheet of material 10 to removably orsubstantially permanently form the crimped portion 32 and secure thecrimped portion 32 formed in the sheet of material 10. The band 34 alsomay include a bow if desired in a particular application.

A portion of the sheet of material 10 near the outer peripheral edge 16thereof extends a distance above and beyond the crimped portion 32 toform a skirt 36 (FIG. 2) extending circumferentially about the upper end20 of the floral holding material 18 and circumferentially about thefloral grouping 26. The sheet of material 10 secured about the floralholding material 18 in the manner just described provides a decorativecovering 38. The sheet of material 10 and the floral holding material 18together with the means for forming the crimped portion 32 comprise adecorative assembly 40.

In one preferred embodiment, the band 34 is automatically placed aboutthe sheet of material 10 using any one of a number of commerciallyavailable automatic or semi automatic banding machines such as theautomatic shaping machine Model No. Power 260 available from ClementsIndustries, Inc., South Hackensack, N.J., or the machine Model No. ModelBMNS Side Bender available from Saxmayer Corporation, Blissfield, Minn.,for example.

In this last mentioned embodiment, the floral holding material 18 withthe sheet of material 10 extended thereabout is placed in the bandingmachine and the banding machine is activated to automatically place theband 34 about the sheet of material 10.

A system for automatically placing a band about a sheet of materialdisposed about a flower pot is disclosed in co-pending applicationentitled “BAND APPLICATOR FOR APPLYING A BAND ABOUT A SHEET OF MATERIALAND A POT” and assigned to the assignee of the present invention and onedisclosure of the letters application specifically is incorporatedherein by reference. This system can be utilized for automaticallyplacing the band 34 about the sheet of material 10 in accordance withthe present invention.

In one other embodiment, the sheet of material 10 is placed about thefloral holding material 18 and then placed in a holding device of thetype disclosed in copending patent application entitled “METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR WRAPPING A FLORAL GROUPING WITH WATER HOLDING ANDRELEASING MATERIAL”, and assigned to the assignee of the presentinvention, the disclosure of which specifically hereby is incorporatedherein by reference. This device includes a band holder. After thefloral holding material 18 with the sheet of material 10 extendedthereabout is placed in the holding device, the operator then takes aband from the band holder and pulls it over the holding device and ontothe sheet of material 10.

EMBODIMENT OF FIG. 3

Shown in FIG. 3 is a modified decorative assembly 40 a comprising asheet of material 10 a wrapped about a modified floral holding material18 a. The floral holding material 18 a is constructed exactly like thefloral holding material 18 shown in FIG. 2 and described in detailbefore, except the floral holding material 18 a has a generallyrectangularly shaped cross section as compared to the circular shapedcross section shown in FIG. 2 with respect to the floral holdingmaterial 18.

The sheet of material 10 a is constructed exactly like the sheet ofmaterial 10 except the sheet of material 10 a may be rectangularlyshaped.

The sheet of material 10 a is extended about the floral holding material18 a and a crimped portion 32 a is formed in the sheet of material 10 avia a band 34 a in a manner exactly like that described before inconnection with the sheet of material 10 and the floral holding material18 shown in FIG. 2.

EMBODIMENT OF FIGS. 4 AND 5

Shown in FIG. 4 is a modified floral holding material 18 b which isconstructed exactly like the floral holding material 18 shown in FIG. 2and described in detail before, except the floral holding material 18 bis in the shape of a solid basket.

Shown in FIG. 5 is a sheet of material 10 b which is constructed exactlylike the sheet of material 10 shown in FIG. 1 and described in detailbefore, except the sheet of material 10 b is disposed or extended aboutthe floral holding material 18 b. A crimped portion 32 b is formed inthe sheet of material 10 b via a band 34 b for cooperating to hold thesheet of material 10 b in position about the floral holding material 18b to provide a decorative covering 38 b.

A decorative assembly 40 b is constructed and operates exactly like thedecorative assembly 40 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and described in detailbefore, except the sheet of material 10 b is extended about the floralholding material 18 b having a basket like shape as opposed to aspherical shape or rectangularly shaped cross section like the floralholding material 18 or 18 a shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 respectively.

EMBODIMENT OF FIGS. 6 AND 7

Shown in FIG. 6 is a modified sheet of material 10 c which isconstructed exactly like the sheet of material 10 shown in FIG. 1 anddescribed in detail before, except the sheet of material 10 c has aclosure bonding material 42 disposed thereon. More particularly, theclosure bonding material 42 is disposed on a upper surface 12 c of thesheet of material 10 c and the closure bonding material 42 is spaced adistance 44 from an outer peripheral edge 16 c of the sheet of material10 c. The closure bonding material 42 extends circumferentially aboutthe sheet of material 10 c. The closure bonding material 42 is spaced adistance 44 radially from a central portion of the sheet of material 10c. It should be noted that, although the closure bonding material 42 isshown in FIG. 6 in the form on a continuous strip of closure bondingmaterial 42, the closure bonding material 42 may be in the form of spotsor spaced apart strips and the spots or strips may be of any geometricshape desired in a particular application.

The term “bonding material” as used herein means an adhesive, preferablya pressure sensitive adhesive, or a cohesive. Where the bonding materialis a cohesive, a similar cohesive material must be placed on theadjacent surface for bondingly contacting and bondingly engaging withthe cohesive material. The term “bonding material” also includesmaterials which are heat sealable and, in this instance, the adjacentportions of the material must be brought into contact and then heat mustbe applied to effect the seal. The term “bonding material” as usedherein also means a heat sealing lacquer which may be applied to thesheet of material and, in this instance, heat also must be applied toeffect the sealing. The term “bonding material” as used herein means anytype of material or thing which can be used to effect the bonding orconnecting of the two adjacent portions of the material or sheet ofmaterial to effect the connection or bonding described herein.

Shown in FIG. 7 is a floral holding material 18 c which is constructedexactly like the floral holding material 18 a shown in FIG. 3 anddescribed in detail before.

In operation, the sheet of material 10 c is extended about a portion ofan outer peripheral surface 24 c of the floral holding material 18 c.The crimped portion 32 c is formed in the sheet of material 10 c bycrimping together portions of the sheet of material 10 c near theclosure bonding material 42 and forming overlapping portions of thesheet of material 10 c with the overlapping portions being substantiallybonded via the closure bonding material 42 to form the crimped portion32 c. The crimped portion 32 c will cooperate to hold the sheet ofmaterial 10 c about the floral holding material 18 c to provide adecorative covering 38 c in a manner exactly like that described beforewith respect to the crimped portion 32 formed with the band 34 shown inFIG. 2, except in this instance the crimped portion 32 c is formed bybringing together and bonding portions of the sheet of material 10 c viathe closure bonding material 42. The closure bonding material 42 ispositioned on the upper surface 12 c of the sheet of material 10 c sothat the crimped portion 32 c is positioned above an upper end 20 c ofthe floral holding material 18 c, shown in FIG. 7.

The crimping of the sheet of material 10 c may be accomplished by handor with a machine or device.

EMBODIMENT OF FIGS. 8 AND 9

Shown in FIG. 8 is a modified sheet of material 10 d which isconstructed exactly like the sheet of material 10 c shown in FIG. 6,except the sheet of material 10 d also includes a first pot bondingmaterial 46 which extends circumferentially about a portion of the sheetof material 10 d. The first pot bonding material 46 is spaced a distancefrom the closure bonding material 42 and spaced a distance from acentral portion of the sheet of material 10 d. The sheet of material 10d also includes a second pot bonding material 48 which is disposed on anupper surface 12 d of the sheet of material 10 d with the second potbonding material 48 covering a central portion of the sheet of material10 d.

Shown in FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a floral holding material 18 dwhich is constructed exactly like the floral holding material 18 a shownin FIG. 3 and described in detail before. The sheet of material 10 d isextended about the floral holding material 18 d and a crimped portion 32d is formed in the sheet of material 10 d in a manner exactly like thatdescribed before in connection with the sheet of material 10 c shown inFIG. 7.

The first pot bonding material 46 is disposed on the sheet of material10 d and positioned thereon so that, when the sheet of material 10 d iswrapped or extended about the floral holding material 18 d, the firstpot bonding material 46 is disposed adjacent a portion of the outerperipheral surface 24 d near the upper end 20 d of the floral holdingmaterial 18 b. The portion of the sheet of material 10 d with the firstpot bonding material 46 thereon is bondingly connected to an outerperipheral surface 24 d of the floral holding material 18 d for furthercooperating to hold the sheet of material 10 d extended about the floralholding material 18 d. In addition, the second pot bonding material 48is positioned on the sheet of material 10 d so that the second potbonding material 48 engages a portion of a lower end 22 d of the floralholding material 18 d and bondingly connected thereto for still furthercooperating to hold the sheet of material 10 d extended about the floralholding material 18 d to form a decorative covering 38 d.

The closure bonding material 42 and the first and second pot bondingmaterials 46 and 48 may be disposed on the upper surface or the lowersurface or both of the sheets of material 10 described herein or in anyof the other positions described in the copending application entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING A DECORATIVE COVER”, owned by theAssignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which specificallyhereby is incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention particularly is useful for providing a decorativecovering using a sheet of material constructed of a material which isnon-shape sustaining. Non-shape sustaining means that the material maybe shaped about the form of the floral holding material, but the sheetof material will not hold that shape and will relax back intosubstantially the non-formed shape unless held in the formed shaped bysome means such as the forming of the crimped portion in the sheet ofmaterial. By comparison, a shape sustaining sheet of material would be amaterial such as a metal foil for example which may be formed about thefloral holding material and which will substantially maintain the formedshape.

Changes may be made in the construction and the operation of the variouscomponents, elements and assemblies described herein and changes may bemade in the steps or the sequence of steps of the methods describedherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the following claims.

1. A method for producing a floral assembly comprising a floral holdingmaterial and a decorative covering, the method comprising the steps of:providing a floral holding material capable of supporting a floralgrouping without a pot; providing a sheet of material; disposing thesheet of material about at least a portion of the floral holdingmaterial; and securing the sheet of material about at least a portion ofthe floral holding material with at least one of a band, an adhesive andcohesive bonding material.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein, in the stepof providing the sheet of material, the sheet of material is constructedof a material selected from a group of materials consisting of paper,metal foil, natural cloth, synthetic cloth, denim, burlap, polymer filmand combinations thereof.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein, in the stepof providing the sheet of material, the sheet of material has athickness in a range of from less than about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil. 4.The method claim 1 wherein, in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial, the sheet of material is constructed of a non-shape sustainingmaterial.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the sheet of material issecured about at least a portion of the floral holding material with aband, and wherein the band is selected from the group consisting ofelastic bands, rubber bands, string, an elastic piece of material, anon-elastic piece of material, a round piece of material, a flat pieceof material, a ribbon, a paper strip, a plastic strip, wire, tie wraps,twist ties, bows, and combinations thereof.
 6. A method for producing afloral assembly comprising the steps of: providing a floral holdingmaterial capable of receiving and supporting the floral grouping withouta pot; providing a sheet of material; disposing the sheet of materialabout at least a portion of the floral holding material to form adecorative cover; and securing the decorative cover about at least aportion of the floral holding material with a band.
 7. The method ofclaim 6 wherein, in the step of providing the sheet of material, thesheet of material is constructed of a material selected from a group ofmaterials consisting of paper, metal foil, natural cloth, syntheticcloth, denim, burlap, polymer film and combinations thereof.
 8. Themethod of claim 7 wherein, in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial, the sheet of material has a thickness in a range of from lessthan about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil.
 9. The method of claim 6 wherein, inthe step of providing the sheet of material, the sheet of material isconstructed of a non-shape sustaining material.
 10. The method of claim6 wherein, in the step of securing the sheet of material about at leasta portion of the floral holding material with a band, the band isselected from the group consisting of elastic bands, rubber bands,string, an elastic piece of material, a non-elastic piece of material, around piece of material, a flat piece of material, a ribbon, a paperstrip, a plastic strip, wire, tie wraps, twist ties, bows, andcombinations thereof.
 11. A method for producing a floral assembly, themethod comprising the steps of: providing a floral holding materialcapable of supporting a floral grouping without a pot; providing thefloral grouping; disposing at least a portion of the floral groupinginto the floral holding material; providing a sheet of material;disposing the sheet of material about at least a portion of the floralholding material; and securing the sheet of material about at least aportion of the floral holding material with at least one of a band, anadhesive, cohesive bonding material, and combinations thereof.
 12. Themethod of claim 11 wherein, in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial, the sheet of material is constructed of a material selectedfrom a group of materials consisting of paper, metal foil, naturalcloth, synthetic cloth, denim, burlap, polymer film and combinationsthereof.
 13. The method of claim 11 wherein, in the step of providingthe sheet of material, the sheet of material has a thickness in a rangeof from less than about 0.1 mil to about 30 mil.
 14. The method of claim11 wherein, in the step of providing the sheet of material, the sheet ofmaterial is constructed of a non-shape sustaining material.
 15. Themethod of claim 11 wherein, in the step of securing the sheet ofmaterial about at least a portion of the floral holding material with aband, the band is selected from the group consisting of elastic bands,rubber bands, string, an elastic piece of material, a non-elastic pieceof material, a round piece of material, a flat piece of material, aribbon, a paper strip, a plastic strip, wire, tie wraps, twist ties,bows, and combinations thereof.
 16. A method for producing a floralassembly comprising a floral holding material and a decorative covering,the method comprising the steps of: providing a floral holding materialconstructed of a material capable of supporting a floral groupingwithout a pot; providing a sheet of material; disposing the sheet ofmaterial about at least a portion of the of the floral holding material;and, disposing a band about the sheet of material in a position causingthe sheet of material to engage the floral holding material for securingthe sheet of material in a position extended about the floral holdingmaterial to provide a decorative covering.
 17. The method of claim 16wherein, in the step of providing the sheet of material, the sheet ofmaterial is constructed of a material selected from a group of materialsconsisting of a material selected from a group of materials consistingof paper, metal foil, natural cloth, synthetic cloth, denim burlap,polymer film and combinations thereof.
 18. The method of claim 17wherein, in the step of providing the sheet of material, the sheet ofmaterial is provided with a thickness in a range of from less than about0.1 mil to about 30 mil.